Hi Steve,
Thnx 4 asking, been a little under the weather for a few days.  Some kind soul shared a bug with me and between the coughing, sneezing, and lack of sleep ... :sad:

But ....... startin' ta feel better now so we can get back to work.

cheers,
;=]

Anywho ... the Joint Editor's "deformers" can be a little confusing unless ...

Well, let's just take 'em one at a time and see what they do.

Remember the "bullseye" cursor?   ... Well, he's baaaaack. :lol:

More deformer details ... Next ...

Believe me, after my bout with whatever it was I had couple weeks ago, I can completely relate to how you feel. I'm glad to hear you're feeling better, but please take care of yourself - just don't do too much before you're ready. There's no sense wearing yourself out if your body needs rest.

Thanks Steve.

The Hip deformer ... Next ...

You're welcome... everyone here truly likes you, so we want you to be well -

Quote - You're welcome... everyone here truly likes you, so we want you to be well -

Very much agreed with

Thanks parkdale.

<----------- Can U REALLY do that? :blink:

BDW - da NaySayGuy wants to know it there's a Lurqueen? :lol:*

Hi doc,

I'm stuck way back on page 8. For the plane prop, you display all of the groups. I don't have the plane prop, so I have been trying out other props. But... no matter which prop I select it only ever has one group.

Is this plane prop available somewhere ? .. Or maybe, can you tell me if there is a prop that comes with Poser (or available as a freebie) which contains many groups ?

Thanks, and I hope you are feeling better soon.

thanks,
Andrew

Hi math,

Give me a minute ... I'll create one for you. :biggrin:

Attached Link: Download the FREE "xplane" object model here - compliments of Dr Geep Studios

Just click on the Attached Link: (above the image)

It does not have any groups ... yet ... but we will fix that ... soon.

This model was specially created for mathman using Wings3D. (in ~ 56 hours) :lol:

We will add the groups inside Poser ... next.

BTW - You may use this model for anything you want.  NO RESTRICTIONS !

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

Hi Steve, ............... questions ????????????

No sir - I've begun on the quest! Now that I've managed to get my texture mapping issues sorted out (with copious amounts of help from UV Dan in the UV Mapper forum), I'm going to devote all my spare time to getting this plane set up right. I can't believe all the work I've put into this model is finally coming to fruition! It would be so difficult to figure this out without your tutorial - thank you again!!

There have been so many times I wanted to just throw in the towel on this model, because either I couldn't figure out the mysteries of turning it into a character, or the texture map got screwed up or because it just wasn't shaping up the way I wanted it to, while I was building it. But doggone it, I always was fascinated by that plane in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", so I really wanted to make a model of it.

Granted, it's not an exact duplicate.... it's a tad bigger and the cockpit and fuselage are very different. But I still like the way it turned out, and I'm really looking forward to sharing it with everyone once it's textured and rigged. I can hardly wait! I feel like a kid with a new toy!! I'm sure that sounds pretty strange and I feel embarrassed to say it, but what the heck?! (blushing)

Steve

Wowowowo.... thanks so much doc !

You are a scholar and a gentleman :)

Attached Link: Download a FREE "xplane" model here - compliments of Dr Geep Studios

Ask and ye shall ............ er, maybe ... get something ...

Note - we will continue with "Making Models Move" after a brief interruption ...

Please stand by ...

This is exciting !! ... thanks again, Doc :)

"Note - we will continue with "Making Models Move" after a brief interruption ...

Please stand by ... "

"Red five standing by."

We can't see any effect unless the yScale is changed.

Try changing the yScale and then adjust the deformer up and down
and observe the effect.

Now, on to the Abdomen ... Next ...

First up is the yRotate deformer ...

Be careful, don't confuse the ...

yRotate parameter for the Abdomen aka "twist"

... with the ...

yRotate deformer for Abdomen aka "twisty"

Note that this deformer affects polygons in the Hip (Bottom) area, also.

More Abdomen deformers ... Next ...

Dr Geep - I finally found the time to sit down and go through your entire tutorial. I wanted to make sure I had time to sit uninterrupted and follow the instructions step-by-step, and I finally found that time. Between school, 2 jobs, family time and working on another model for a friend, any spare time is hard to find!

But as I was going through the tutorial, I found a problem with something that I don't understand. I've made a lot of props and smart-props before, so I'm sort of familiar with using the grouping tool to create props. I understand the part about creating a prop, then deleting the .obj file in favor of my newly created prop. However, using the grouping tool to remove only a part of the .obj file is confusing to me.

It's in reference to page 8 of your tutorial. It shows how to select the forward landing gear portion of the .obj file, which I did. But how do I remove it? With the group editor open, I clicked the drop-down list to show the list of all the parts. I found the parts that represented the pieces that went together to form the landing gear. For example, one of the parts is called "cube1_sep_Nos". Once I click on that part, I clicked "Remove Group", expecting that part of the .obj file to disappear. I figured that I need to go one-by-one and do this for all the similarly named parts, until they are all gone, at which point I could take the prop that I created and put it in place as the front landing gear.

But when I clicked the "Remove Group" button nothing happens. I must be doing something wrong but I don't know what. I have to remove that part of the .obj so I can replace it with my landing gear prop, but I can't seem to do so.

Do you have any thoughts about what I'm doing wrong?

Quote -   But as I was going through the tutorial, I found a problem with something that I don't understand. I've made a lot of props and smart-props before, so I'm sort of familiar with using the grouping tool to create props. I understand the part about creating a prop, then deleting the .obj file in favor of my newly created prop. However, using the grouping tool to remove only a part of the .obj file is confusing to me.

 Let's look at a simple example of using the Grouping Tool to "remove" part of an object.

Let's use Poser's "box" prop.  The box prop has only 1 group named "box" and that group includes all the polygons from all 6 sides of the "box."

We are going to create a new prop object with the top removed.
Here's how to do it. ..............  (using the Grouping Tool)

If we ... click the "Delete Group" button ... (with the box prop selected) ...
... the "box" group disappears but the box prop is still there with all polygons and all 6 sides.
We have neither deleted the box prop nor any part of it.

Next ... we can make 6 new groups like this ...

Make "New Group(s)" as follows ...

Group named "front" ....... has all the polygons on the front side of the box.
Group named "top" ......... has all the polygons on the top of the box.
Group named "bottom" ... has all the polygons on the bottom of the box.
Group named "left" ......... has all the polygons on the left side of the box.
Group named "right" ....... has all the polygons on the right side of the box.
Group named "back" ....... has all the polygons on the back side of the box.

Now ... we still only have 1 prop object named box .. but it has 6 groups.

So ... if ... (using the Grouping Tool) ...we click the "Spawn Props" button ...
Poser will create 6 new prop objects named ... "front", "top", "bottom", "left" , "right", and "back" ... so now there are 7 prop objects in the studio.

Let's "DELETE" the original box prop. (NOT using the Grouping Tool)
but selecting the (original) box prop and hitting the "Delete" key on the keyboard.

Now we have the 6 prop objects that Poser created for us when we clicked on the "Spawn Props" button in the Group Edit window, i.e., the Grouping Tool.

Now we can create a new prop object that is missing part of the original box ...

Next ...

... continued ...

Exporting a new box prop object that is missing a part of the original prop object ...
... will create a new prop object with part of the original prop object removed.

************** Here's what to do ... ******************

Use the [menu] "File" >>>**  "Export"** >>> "Wavefront OBJ..."

... and (in the "Select Object" window) check all of the parts of the box ...
... EXCEPT ... the "top" (prop object) ... (we are going to "remove" the top of the box
because we will not include it when we Export the new object.)

New Export the "box_no_top" object to a file (outside of Poser).

Now when we Import the "box_no_top" back into Poser, we have a new prop object that is a box prop without a top, e.g., we have removed the top side of the original box prop.

Does this explain how to "remove" part of a prop object using the Grouping Tool.? :blink:

Hi Dr Geep - thanks for explaining this! I just got off from work this morning (working overnight all this week.... ugh, I'm too old for this stayin' up all night stuff!)

After I sleep for a few hours, I'm gonna sit down and go thru this with the flying wing. Thanks so much for taking time to help me out!

Steve